


It starts with a J...

by Hinganbachuru (Twilight_Joltik)



Category: Asagao Academy: Normal Boots Club, Hidden Block (Video Blogging RPF)
Genre: Asavoid au, Gen, Look that last episode messed me up I needed to do something about it, Televoid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-23
Updated: 2016-10-23
Packaged: 2018-08-24 06:42:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8361442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Twilight_Joltik/pseuds/Hinganbachuru
Summary: Ian finds himself struggling a bit with names.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Asavoid AU belongs to ellieofmidnight, check it out here! http://archiveofourown.org/works/8342467

Empty feeling. Empty, empty, empty, and he wants to scream but it won’t come out. He’s not sure how long he’s been here, in the infernal room of black and black and green. Not sure how long the hoodie of a color he used to like has been brushing against his skin. 

 

It’s cold in the room today, the kind of cold the hoodie can’t even begin to block out. He crosses his arms for warmth. A shiver lets out. There’s a sensation he can’t begin to explain, a slight weight, and the coldness lessens. A feverish chill is left in its place. Sweat’s running down his neck but he can’t tell why. 

 

The terror, as the static on the television flickers and flickers and flickers, fades into boredom, into loneliness. He doesn’t want to be here, that thought is frequent and powerful, but the other one is rare, it gives him a surge of hope that he may be fighting. He wants, more specifically, to live. To be with his friends.

 

His mind wanders between the black and white and black and white into thoughts of those friends. He wants to see them. He wants to laugh with them. Please, just one more game, just one more lunch where everyone’s smiling and joking, just one more minute would be enough. 

 

But, after a moment, he realizes his mind is stuck on “everyone”. He can see the collective, the yellow jackets, the laughter, the friendly jabs, but try to isolate one, and the image falls apart. Memories could get fuzzy, sure, but this felt new, it felt different. That emotion of isolation intensified, along with a strange, cool wetness on his forehead and hair. The collective was there. Individuals seemed to blur. A few details produced themselves: a melody, a gunshot, a skirt and ribbons, but who did they belong to?

 

Just try to focus on one face in the crowd, he begged himself, you can do this. So he tried to closed his eyes- failed to close his eyes- and focused in.

 

Most clear was someone with… well, he couldn’t pick out any features, but he was standing out in his mind. His voice, he could almost hear it. He was trustworthy, kind, always there to help… Thinking about him made him happy, they must have been good friends.

 

Why couldn’t he remember then? If he was as important as he felt, why couldn’t he remember his face? Or his name, not even his name…

 

He pushed further in his mind, surely there was a name somewhere. 

 

A sound came to mind, a simple J- without a finish. That sounded right! It sounded right! But, what else?

 

J... J… J... Jared? No, that didn’t sound right at all. J… J… Jirard? No, no, that wasn’t, no, not at all.

 

It had to be somewhere, the right name. J… J… J… J… Josh? That isn’t right either. Nothing he thought of was right.

 

All of a sudden, the world started cutting into static. His head threatened to split apart. 

 

No, he couldn’t, not before he remembered! He had to, what was his name, what was it? 

 

But it was all he could do to stay conscious through the searing pain. His skin felt like static, his head felt blank from the pain. 

 

Hold on, hold on, you alone stand between the worlds. 

 

D̯̖̹͍͇͙ǫ̫̬̜̗̩̗̩͚ ̛̗̦̱̝ỳ͏̲̤͙̭̦̲͢ó̯̹͈̩̼͍̳́u̳̹͙̻͍͝ ̭̲̠͚̤͘ẁ̱͉̮̜̀̕a͠҉̮̥̙͍͉n̛͉͍͖͚̕͘t̨̩̳͎̝̰͕͖͡ ̣͚͞͡ţ̰̦̠͘o̸̝͕͖͠ ̤͕̫̲͘s̞̬̼̟͓̪̗͠ͅa̴͇̣̻̲̦̗̰͖y͚͚̥͚̤ ̴̨̛͈̞̬͓̺̠̹g̗͠o̴̭̳̣͓̤͡͝o̧̬̯̻͔d̨̼͉͙̜͔̤͟͠b͍̱̠͟͟ý̟͙͎̹͎e̳͙̻?̨̮͕

 

He jolted upright. An ice pack fell off his head. His head still hurt, the static still danced at the edges of his vision, but he felt oddly different. A blanket was wrapped around him, he shrugged it off. 

 

And beside him, someone was running towards him. “Ian!”, he cries. “You’re awake! Are you okay?”

 

This person was the one he’d been trying to remember, he knew that for certain. 

 

Before he could think, he asked the question that’d been pressing into his mind. “What’s your name?”

 

His eyes filled with tears. “I- I’m Jeff, remember?”, he pleads in a soft voice. “You… god, what happened in there?”

 

Guilt filled his chest. Jeff, of course, how could he forget that? 

 

But wait, what had he said? Just a second ago, when he was running over? 

 

“Sorry, what did you say?”

 

“Jeff, I’m Jeff,” he repeats, sounding dejected. 

 

Shaking his head, he tried not to look at the broken frown Jeff bore. “No, the other name, when I woke up…”

 

“Ian. That- that’s your name.”

 

Was it? Funny, it’d sounded unfamiliar. 

  
Everything was getting blurry again. Something burned in his eyes and down his cheeks. 


End file.
